100 OPHIDIANS. 
Where references have been made to some of the physical 
peculiarities of different varieties, the following remarks are 
intended to apply in a general sense. Snakes in captivity 
are less venomous than in a state of nature. The Crotalus 
in tropical forests emits so strong a smell of musk as to 
impregnate the surrounding atmosphere with it, as though 
to warn one of its proximity; this fact has misled many ob- 
servers. | 
When a snake in the forest loses a fang, or both of them, 
twenty-four hours is sufficiently long for the new fangs to 
come forward and fix themselves firmly to the superior maxil- 
lary bone; as I have observed in four or five cases in South 
America, where I have tempted them to seize small pigeons 
and lizards; would allow them to get a firm hold, and then 
tear the prey from their grasp with violence, wrenching off 
one or both fangs; after allowing twenty-four hours to elapse 
thereafter, I have caught the snake in his hole, and invariably 
found the new fangs firmly anchylosed to their maxillaries. 
The most intelligent Curers all entertain the belief that in 
the tropics no more than twenty-four, or at most forty-eight 
hours in some cases, are necessary for a fallen or broken fang 
to be replaced by a new one. 
The following varieties are not placed in any of the pre- 
ceding tables, as their classification is not known. 
Found in South Africa. 
Coristodon concolor. Homalosma arctiventris. 
Cyrtophis scutatus. . ¢ Rufulus. 
fe Lamprophis, 1 x 
Dasypeltis nornatus, urora. 
> | Scaber. Monopeltis capensis. 
Elapomorphus capensis. Onychocephalus Delalandii, 6 
Heterolepis capensis. sub-varieties. 
